(no subject)

[clumsy_auror]

It's three in the morning, and Bernard and Nymphadora are awake.

...No, not because of that.

"--Where's the rest of the sparkly tinsel paper?" 'Dora asks distractedly, shuffling through the mess of wrapping accoutrements around her on the floor of their bedroom.

Comments

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

"Uhhhhhh." Bernard lifts a distressingly large pile of sticky bows; why did she buy so many?! "Did you use it all on the kitchen stuff?"

[clumsy_auror]

"Bollocks, maybe I did," she replies, fretting slightly. "Shite. Well, what else have we got?"

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

"Um." He lifts a roll. "Dancing candy canes." Lifts another. "Fighting gingerbread men. You have scary taste." Said with love.

[clumsy_auror]

She brightens, and holds out a hand. "Oooh, candy canes, please. Cheers love."

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

He bops her on the head with it before handing it to her.

"How should I wrap... these?" He holds up a pile of squashy, colorful alphabet blocks.

[clumsy_auror]

Distractedly, as she carefully positions the box on the blank side of the paper, "Um, dunno. Wrapping them all up individually seems an awful lot of work." 'Dora digs around for her wand.

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

"...Yeah. Which is why I'm asking."

He sets them on a spare piece of paper and sort of like. Arranges them in a pile.

"Maybe just." He pulls the corners of the paper up and holds it like a pouch.

[clumsy_auror]

Laughing, "Well it'd certainly make it easy for Anthony to open, so I reckon it's a good plan."

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

"Groovy." By the time he's finished with it, it looks kind of like a big wrapped up candy, tied with a bow.

He turns to the logically-packaged dresses they got Sunny. "Do you think she'll ever want some damn pants?"

[clumsy_auror]

"She wears pants sometimes," 'Dora points out. "Flouncy skirts just have an inherent flounciness value that any sartorially-conscious toddler appreciates."

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

Bernard rolls his eyes and wraps one of the boxes in the candy cane paper. "Anthony and I went out on a walk today."

[clumsy_auror]

"Oh yeah? Did he actually walk, or did you walk and he selfishly made you carry him?"

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

"Monkeyfaced freeloader rode on my chest the whole time," Bernard snickers, then sobers with an effort.

"We, ah. Strayed into the woods."

[clumsy_auror]

At that Nymphadora frowns, very slightly. "Yeah?"

Demon bunnies notwithstanding... there are some fairly unpleasant things in the Milliways woods.

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

"Didn't mean to." His fingers fold the end of the wrapping paper over, and he tapes it. "I wasn't watching where I was going. It fades into the Dreaming, in spots." A breath, and before she can even ask, "Dream took the opportunity to talk to me. Not the nice one."

[clumsy_auror]

Her hands freeze. She's pale, even in the dim flickering lamplight.

"What...?"

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

He looks up, and reaches over, covering her hand with one of his.

"It's okay. Nothing really happened. I think that there must be Morpheus in there somewhere, because Anthony dropped off to sleep and stayed asleep the whole time." A small, confused smile. "It was weird. He wanted to ask about love. Moiraine left Morpheus."

[clumsy_auror]

"Oh. Blimey." Brow still furrowed, 'Dora turns back to the package before her, tapping it with her wand so that the ribbon ties itself into a bow. "So... what did you tell him?"

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

He takes his hand back, shrugging. "Said it's kind of a mystery and that's how it should be. That you know you've got something good when it fits right off the bat. That part of what fuels a good relationship is working on the parts that don't quite fit." He shakes his head and takes another box.

"I don't think I helped that much until he asked about how to deal with pain."

[clumsy_auror]

Nymphadora looks at him sidelong, just waiting.

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

"He was in so much pain. I was never not scared of him, but I guess it's possible to fear something or someone and still sympathize."

[clumsy_auror]

"Sure it is," she murmurs. "Especially when it comes to love. Hardly anyone really deserves to have their heart broken."

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

"Anyway." He clears his throat, and reaches for the paper. "It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either. He was more manageable. Able to listen."

[clumsy_auror]

A faint smile. "I'm glad. Though it's still chilling, all the same."

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

"You're not kidding. I thought I was fucked."